How to run Xubuntu on Ubuntu 11.10

How-to: Run Xfce on Ubuntu 11.10 Final

Xfce
is a lightweight desktop environment which is designed to be responsive
and consume fewer system resources than say, Gnome with Unity, or KDE.
It’s also a useful substitute for Unity now that Gnome panel has been
removed in 11.10. I am now running it on the regular Ubuntu 11.10 Unity
release; that’s not Xubuntu, but the regular 11.10 with the usual Ubuntu
applications stack, with Xfce4 on top. I now have the choice of Unity
or Xfce. Guess which I’m using for my everyday environment?
Xfce 4.8 is the current stable version, available since Jan 2011. You
can install it either from the Ubuntu Software Center, the command line
(apt-get install xfce4) or Synaptic Package Manager and it works not
only for Ubuntu but also for other Linux distros such as Linux Mint and
Fedora.

Downloading and installing the Xfce4 meta-package
from the official Ubuntu repository, which you can do through Software
Centre, Synaptic or the Aptitude command line with a simple search on
Xfce4, takes a few minutes. You might also want to pull in the ‘extras’
packages,

xfce4-goodies containing more artwork and a stack of utilities

xfprint4 which is the printer GUI for xcfe

If you want the highlights and a list of components, check the
previous post when we tried this in the 11.10 Beta release. I’ve set
mine up to mimic a conventional Gnome-like desktop experience without
the frustrations of the current version of Unity.

Choosing the Xfce Session

From the Light DM login screen, select Xfce as your session using the dropdown list triggered by the cog icon.

Configuring Xfce

If
you haven’t already run the application to install Restricted Drivers,
do so in order to pull in the best version of graphics drivers you can
find. Then adjust the display settings through Settings, Display. Get
the right resolution, but if in doubt over refresh frequencies, don’t
mess with them.

Appearance

There
are controls for setting just about everything in the Xfce desktop,
although not all in the one place. Going to Settings, Appearance, you
can work through the tabs of controls. Style sets window border styles,
Icons selects icons. Under fonts, you will definitely need Enable
anti-aliasing checked.
Next, play around with the Hinting and Sub-pixel order option as you get different results depending on your lcd panel.
Slightly confusing is that if you go Settings, Window Manager, the
first tab has another Style selector which changes the desktop theme.
You can also change the Window Controls (Button) order.

From
then on, you can play around with the Xfce panel. Right clicking brings
up the Panel Context menu, from which you can add, delete and configure
panels including adding launchers and menus to get the working desktop
you want. RCAdvertisement